Cotton huller



J. J. WALLACE COTTON HULLER NOV.

Filed July 1, 1935 2 Sheets-Shee 1 m J J Nov. 29, 1938. J W A 2,138,436

COTTON HULLER Filed July 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 29, 1938 UNITED STATES COTTON HULLER Jeffrey John Wallace,

Gullett Gin Company, of Louisiana Amite, La., assignor to Amite, La., a corporation Application July 1, 1935, Serial No. 29,331

6 Claims. (01. leper) This invention relates to cotton hullers. It is an improvement upon the cotton hulling machine disclosed in my co-pending application for patent Serial No. 740,712, filed August 20, 1934.

The principle of operation of the machine forming the subject matter of said co-pending application is to provide a path or route for the cotton past a plurality of differentiated rotating elements which feed, convey, comb, separate and otherwise treat the fiber so as to dislodge, disentangle or break up foreign bodies such as hulls, fragments of hulls, sticks, pebbles and other foreign matter which may be entrained with the cotton fiber, and to progressively form the fiber into a fleece of uniform thickness and density progressively cleaned in the manner above related and finally discharged from the machine.

In the cleaning of the cotton, it is essential to rid the fiber from the foreign matter dislodged, disentangled and otherwise separated from the fiber in the various stages of the progress through the machine, and with this end in View, certain elements rotate at such speed as to create centrifugal force of great enough value to throw the foreign matter when freed from the fiber out of the path of the fiber. The machine disclosed in my co-pending application therefore is provided with means outside of the path of cotton flow for receiving foreign matter either ejected from the cotton by centrifugal force or dropping therefrom by gravity.

At one point in the path of travel of the cotton there is a cleaning drum revolving at such speed and so related to the saw cylinder as to classify the cotton and the contaminating substance centrifugally in three fractions; namely, the heavier bodies which are thrown through a screen into a hull receiving conduit, cotton still laden with foreign material and which is thrown off at a smaller angle, being directed to certain secondary cleaning devices, and clean cotton which being lighter, is thrown off at still a smaller angle directly upon the periphery of the saw cylinder by which it is carried past certain stripper elements and to a doffer and finally to the discharge end of the machine.

Now, it happens in the machine disclosed in my co-pending application that two of the classes of material diverted into separate paths by the cleaning drum are discharged more or less directly into the path of the secondary cleaning elements above referred to so that to a certain extent the foreign substance once removed, is again returned to the cotton in the region of the secondary cleaning devices, unnecessarily fouling the cotton,-overworking the secondary feeding devices and thus reducing their efiiciency.

The present invention has for its principal objectthe provision of means forming a by-pass around the secondary cleaning devices for receiving the heaviest grade of contaminating bodies, that is to say, pebbles, trash, unentangled hull particles, etc. and passing them on to a hull discharging conveyor without their coming into contact with the secondary cleaning devices.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for positively discharging the material thus by-passed, into the discharge conveyor.

Other objects'of the invention relate to improvements in the operating mechanism and driving; controls.

r In the drawings which accompany and form part of the present invention and throughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through my improved'cotton huller taken in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the main rotating parts;

Figure 2 is a vertical elevation of one side of the apparatus showing the driving controls;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the impeller which discharges the hulls from the sump which forms the by-pass, into the discharge conveyor;

and g Figure 4 is a section of 'one of the controls, taken'along' the line i- -4 of Figure 2.

Referring now in detail to the several figures the numerals I' and 2 represent a pair of feed rolls preferably of triangular cross section as shown and the details of construction of which are described in my aformentioned co-pending application and form no part of the present invention. ,These rollers are geared together and one of them is driven through the ratchet wheel 3 in amanner which will presently be described. The rollers work toward one another in the manner indicated by the arrows and receive cotton from a suitable hopper or other source and force 45 it downward against the primary drum 4. Said drum rotates'in a counter-clockwise manner as viewed in Figure 1 and, being provided with alternateedges 5 and rows of teeth 6, it drags off a continuous layer from the bottom of the mass of cotton presented to it by the feed rollers l and 2 and carries the cotton around baffles 1 and 8. These battles are separated in the region of the bottom of the drum 4 to give access of a stripper r011. H the p i t eam res ie und he drum 4 so as to return to said stream imperfectly cleaned cotton gathered from the face of the saw cylinder l0. After passing the baffle 8, the cotton moves into operative relation to the cleaning drum II, the surface of which also is provided with alternate series of edges I2 and rows of teeth l3 and which drum travels at a high rate of speed producing a centrifugal force of such value as to throw off particles of said trash and dbris of small nature which may not be too entangled or involved in the fiber mass. These bodies are thrown through the screen l4 which forms the inner wall of a receiving conduit l5.

It has been described inconnection with the machine of which the present apparatus is an improvement that the cleaning drum H classifies the material which passes over it into three classes, according to their weight, the first or heaviest class of which consists of the particles which are thrown ofi centrifugally and which enter the conduit 15. The position of the cleaning drum II relative to the saw cylinder l0 and the speed at which it is run, causes the second grade of substance consisting of cotton contaminated with a considerable proportion of hulls and trash to follow a trajectory indicated by the broken line 16, the direction of which causes the substance to miss the saw cylinder H] and to be projected through the space controlled by the manually adjusted valve IT. The third grade of substance is the light and substantially clean cotton which is thrown off at a'still smaller angle as indicated by the broken line I8 and which impinges upon the saw cylinder.

The distinctness of these three classifications depends upon the original condition of the cotton. The large bodies which are free from the cotton fiber are always present and form a distinctclass. The cotton which follows the trajectory l6 and that which follows the trajectory I8 are not so distinctly classified, but one class merges into the other, the cleaner part of the cotton impinging upon the saw cylinder and the dirtier part passing through the valve controlled opening. The operator uses his judgment in adjusting the valve 11. If the cotton in the path I6 is not very dirty, he may close the valve I! so'as to throw most of the cotton against the saw cylinder. If the cotton following the trajectory I 6 is very dirty, he opens the valve I! so as to avoid littering the saw cylinder with so large a proportion of impurities.

Beneath the saw cylinder are the twin drums l9, referred to in my co-pending application as hull drums and in the present case designated as cleaning devices secondary to the drum ll. They are not directly concerned with the cotton which impinges at first instance upon the saw cylinder, but with the cotton which follows the trajectory l6 and impinges directly upon the foremost of the twin drums I9. These drums rotate in the direction of the adjacent arrows at a centrifugal speed to cause the separation of the untangled foreign bodies from the fiber and in such direction as to throw said bodies against and through the screen 20 forming the inner wall of the sump 2|. The cotton thus deprived of the major'portion of its impurities is kicked by the teeth 22 on the twin drums l9 against the saw cylinder, being retained thereby and carried upward to join the mass of cleaner cotton impinging upon the saw cylinder directly from the drum ll. Those particles of foreign substance which are too large to pass through the screen 20 are thrown over the posterior end 23 of the screen 20 into the discharge conveyor 24.

In my previous machine hereinbefore referred to, the lower end of the conduit I discharged directly upon the drum 19, the teeth of the twin drums being relied upon to immediately either beat the foreign matter through the perforated screen 20, or carrying it along over the up-turned end 23 of the screen discharging it directly into the discharge conveyor 24, the centrifugal force of said drums being thought sufficient to keep the particles segregated from the cotton being carried around by the twin drums. However, as a matter of fact, it was found that a certain proportion of theforeign particles discharging from the conduit '15 became entrained in the cotton on the drums |9, unnecessarily fouling the cotton "thereupon and requiring said drums and the succeeding elements to do additional and unnecessary work in cleaning the cotton of these impurities.- Therefore the present invention provides a bafile 25 closing the communication between the conduit and the chamber in which the twin drums l9 are located andan opening 26 establishing an avenue of communication directly between the conduit I5 and the sump 2|, the latterdischarging as formerly directly into the discharge conveyor 24. a I In view of the fact that the sump receive more than the proportion of foreign substance provided for in my previous machine, 'it is necessarily made deeper as shown and in order to positively discharge its contents and to prevent it becoming jammed with foreign material, an impeller 21 is provided driven from the general driving train of the apparatus. Figure 3 shows that this impeller is preferably made of sheet metal crimped as shown to form backwardly extending peripheral flanges 28 and 29 and a central angular recess 30 adapted to be clamped around the driving shaft 31' by suitable means such as the lugs 32.

It is obvious that by the provision of the-improvement above described, the foreign matter once separated centrifugally by the cleaning drum H,- and entering the conduit I5, does not at any later period come again into contact with the cotton, but by-passes the secondary cleaning drums Is and is emptied directly into the general discharge.

Another improved feature of the presentde it shut as shown in Figure 2, the spring snapping from one to the other side of dead center in the course of the closing movement of said end gate. a I

Since it is obvious that the rate of feed of raw cottonto the apparatus should be in proportion to the capacity of the saw cylinder to remove the cleaned cotton from the cleaning drums, provision is-ma'de as in my previous machine, for driving the feed rollers from the saw cylinder. The drive connection is shown in Figure 2 consisting of an eccentric 38 on the saw cylinder shaft which-reciprocates a connecting rod 39. The connecting rod 39 rocks a rocking lever 40 which in turn reciprocates a link 4|, the latter member oscillating a lever 42 carrying an advancing pawl 43 and a keeper pawl 44,'which work against the ratchet teeth on the ratchet wheel 3. According as the oscillatory lever 42 is varied, the advancing pawl 43 moves the ratchet wheel 3 through an interval of one or a plurality of tooth lengths. Variation in the oscillatory movement of the lever 42 is produced by shifting the point of connection between the connecting rod 39 and the arm 45 of the rocking lever 40. Figures 2 and 4 show that the arm 45 is provided with a series of longitudinally arranged apertures 46 and that the connecting rod 39 is provided at its end with a handle having a detent 48 engaging with one side of the arm 45 and the end of which is capable of entering anyone of the apertures 46 automatically under the urge of a spring 49 held in compression between the fixed part 50 of the handle and the movable part 51 which actuates the detent 48. The handle is pivoted to the connecting rod 39 at the point 52 and upon pressing the handle part 5! the detent 48 may be released from any hole 48 with which it may be engaged and the handle may be slid along the arm 45 to engage the detent 48 with any other hole according as it may be desired to increase the length of stroke of the lever 42 and thereby increase the rate of feed of cotton to the machine.

Figure 2 shows that the valve H is actuated by a handle 53 brought in proximity to the handle i! so that the operator of the machine may maintain his station at one point. Figure 2 shows also that the impeller 21 is actuated by a belt 54 driven from the shaft of the saw cylinder iti, so that the rate of discharge of hulls, etc., from the sump 2! is controlled by the rate of rotation of the saw cylinder.

While I have in the above described what I believe to be a preferred and practical form of my invention it will be understood that the details of construction may be varied within the. latitude permitted by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Cotton huller comprising a casing having a cotton inlet and separate cotton and hull discharges, sequentially arranged means for separating the cotton from contaminating substances comprising a primary cleaning drum and a secondary cleaning drum at a lower level than the primary cleaning drum, a saw cylinder between said cleaning drums, a conduit opening adjacent said primary cleaning drum, said primary cleaning drum centrifugally classifying the raw cotton into three grades by weight, said primary cleaning drum, secondary cleaning drum, saw cylin- 'der and conduit being so correlatively positioned that the primary cleaning drum throws light clean cotton directly upon said saw cylinder, heavy debris into said conduit, and cotton with hulls past said saw cylinder upon said secondary cleaning drum, and means forming a by-pass around said secondary cleaning drum communicating with said conduit and with said hull discharge for passing the heavy debris from said conduit to said discharge in avoidance of said secondary cleaning drum.

2. Cotton huller as claimed in claim 1, said by-passing means having a perforate wall adjacent said secondary cleaning drum for receiving foreign matter extracted from the cotton by said secondary cleaning drum.

3. Cotton huller as claimed in claim 1 including an impeller in said by-passing means for positively driving the hulls, etc., into said hull discharge.

4. Cotton huller comprising a casing having a cotton inlet, and separate cotton and hull discharges, means establishing cotton and foreign body traversing routes leading eventually respectively to said cotton and hull discharges, a cotton cleaning drum adjacent said cotton inlet, a perforate wall operatively positioned with respect to said cotton cleaning drum, forming with said casing a conduit open at the lower end and forming the anterior portion of said foreign body traversing route, receiving heavy dbris thrown through said wall centrifugally by said cleaning drum, a saw cylinder in said cotton traversing route, a hull cleaning drum chamber lying contiguous to the posterior portion of said foreign body-traversing route, a perforate wall separating said chamber from said foreign body-traversing route, a hull-cleaning drum in said chamber; cooperating with said saw cylinder and delivering toward said hull discharge,

positioned to throw foreign bodies against and through said perforate wall.

5. Cotton huller comprising a casing having a cotton inlet, and separate cotton and hull discharges, means establishing cotton and foreign body traversing routes leading eventually respectively to said cotton and hull discharges, a cotton cleaning drum adjacent said cotton inlet, a perforate wall operatively positioned with respect to said cotton cleaning drum, forming with said casing a conduit open at the lower end and forming the anterior portion of said foreign body traversing route, receiving heavy debris thrown through said wall centrifugally by said cleaning drum, a saw cylinder in said cotton traversing route, a hull cleaning drum chamber contiguous to the posterior portion of said foreign body-traversing route, a perforate wall separating said chamber from said route, a hull-cleaning drum in said chamber; cooperating with said saw cylinder and delivering toward said hull discharge, and an agitator in the said foreign body-traversing route propelling hulls, etc., toward said hull discharge.

6. Cotton huller as claimed in claim 4, including a valve for varying the cross sectional area of said cotton-traversing route at a point adjacent said saw cylinder.

JEFFREY JOHN WALLACE. 

